1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an electric bus and an electric bus battery exchange system, and more particularly, relates to the electric bus with an exchangeable battery and the electric bus battery exchange system that exchanges a discharged battery for a charged battery.
2. Description of Related Art
An electric bus refers to a bus powered by electric energy. The electric bus has an eco-friendly characteristic that does not emit harmful gases, compared with existing automobiles using fossil fuels. Thus, the research and commercialization of the electric bus is speeding up further.
For example, Seoul city has started the world's first electric bus since 2010, and is planning to expand the electric bus until 2014.
The electric buses that are being currently commercialized have a short mileage with one charge, so it is inevitable that they should stop by several battery exchange stations to get electric energy. However, stopping by the battery exchange station causes inconvenience to passengers, because it takes 30 minutes to charge a battery with current technology. Therefore, the electric buses are obliged to take a short route in order to not stop by the battery exchange station, or take only a flat route.
To solve above-mentioned problem, this applicant have proposed a battery exchange system that exchanges a discharged battery for a pre-charged battery. For instance, KR patent applications No. 2011-32024, No. 2011-34994, No. 2011-52913, etc are pending before the Korea patent office. According to the proposed technology, the battery is swapped quickly through a hole positioned on top of the electric bus for battery exchange, so that battery swapping can be completed during stoppage time for boarding. Therefore, there is no need to wait for battery swapping, and the electric bus can run effectively regardless of the length of route.
As mentioned above, when the battery is swapped through the hole positioned on top of the electric bus for battery exchange, it is necessary that the electric bus is positioned at exact place matched with a swapping point which is positioned above in order to exchange battery in a short time.
Therefore, this applicant proposes an electric bus and a battery exchange system that guides the electric bus to be positioned exactly at place matched with the swapping point without any equipment disturbing the route.